Valtari Empire
Synopsis The greatest power in all of Raia is also its youngest. Originally born from the Kingdom of Volken, the Valtari Empire is led by the Emperor Cedric Volken, a stern warrior who was promised the continent via a prophecy given to him in his youth. His most trusted advisor is Lady Lucretia, a mysterious seer who gave up her eyes for the ability to see the future. It has only been a mere 35 years since the Volkens were led by their King Cedric Volken to rapidly assault and conquer the seemingly insurmountable Kingdom of Vesper. Now, nations all across the west bend the knee under the light of the Blood Moon. The prophet Born in the year 829 OB, Cedric Volken was the oldest son of King Jerrod Volken. King Jerrod was stern and warlike in his day, but with the slow-but-steady growth and imperialism of his neighbors in the Kingdom of Vesper, he learned diplomacy and appeasement quickly. He emphasized the security of a quiet and disciplined populace in order to keep peace in the land of Volken, which was a sizable kingdom but not a military might worth bragging about. In 839 OB, Cedric was riding alone in the woods just outside Castle Moondrake when his horse was startled by a creature it saw in the distance. In its fear, it bucked Cedric off its back and dashed off as he rolled down into a gully, breaking his leg and knocking him unconscious in the process. Alone, he should have died. But as fate would have it, Lady Lucretia crossed his path and took him to a small witches' hut somewhere in the woods. There she tended to his wounds. When he awoke, the young prince was startled, but the witch calmed him down with a spell and regaled him with a prophecy. One day, all of Raia will be covered in the red light of a blood moon, and Cedric will be bearer of that light. He fell asleep again, and when he next awoke he was just outside the front gates of Castle Moondrake, his leg healed fully. The guards escorted him back. Apparently, he had been gone for more than a week. Unnerved by his experience, Cedric tried not to think or talk about it for the next few years. King Cedric and the invasion of Vesper The day he was crowned king early in the year 846 OB, Cedric couldn't stop thinking about the prophecy, so he gathered some of his most trusted retainers and ventured out into the woods to find Lady Lucretia. Eventually he did. Everything in the hut was unchanged and completely how he remembered it -- including Lucretia, who seemingly hadn't aged a day despite being human. She told him she knew he'd come back for her, and asked if she could join his court. Cedric's retainers were apprehensive of the witch, but Cedric agreed that she could tag along. His wife, Yara Edella, wasn't so happy with her arrival either. The nobility was not happy with the growing encroachment of the Vespers upon their fiefdoms, and often came to Cedric to complain about it. However, it was generally common consensus around the court that nothing could be done: the Vespers were simply too powerful. Lucretia, however, foresaw victory for the Volkens if they were to invade Vesper and take it for themselves. The court knew Lucretia's power, as everything she had said prior to this had become true. With some prodding, everyone in the court including Cedric agreed to mobilizing troops, at first with the sole intention of reclaiming lost land. When the war effort went off without a hitch, the Volkenian army became extremely confident. With Lucretia's intimate knowledge of the Vesper war machine and Cedric's peerless leadership skills, they were honed finer than any army in the entire continent, and eventually grew ambitious enough to strike at the Vesperian capital, High Ruwenia. The battle was a crushing blow to the Kingdom of Vesper, and after holding the castle for five months, King Bannon of Vesper eventually surrendered. Instead of asking for his head, Cedric asked for his vassalage: Bannon took him up on the offer. Vesper had many allied nations, and it doesn't take a lot to mobilize the volatile Western Kingdoms to war. However, Lucretia's prophecies this time around were much more foreboding about Volken's prospects unless they took the high road of diplomacy. Cedric got Bannon to invite these allied kingdoms to High Ruwenia for a feast so they could settle differences peacefully. When they arrived, Cedric had Lady Lucretia talk to each of the kings individually and use her powers of prophecy to sway them under her wing. Then finally, she revealed to the whole crowd the prophecy of the Blood Moon, proclaiming that they will remain kings under Cedric's rule, and that uniting will only bring prosperity and peace to each of their progeny until the end of time. The kingdoms of Ryersdale, Arcadia, Galt, and Alathus were the first to join. The other kings scoffed at her prophecy, saying that any dream of a western empire is doomed from the start. As soon as they left, Cedric and his kings began plotting their downfall. They also chose a unified name: the Valtari Empire, after an ancient elven word for the moon. Cedric also decided to change his coat of arms. Instead of the white moon on black of the Kingdom of Volken, he changed it to a red moon on white. This has remained the heraldry for the Empire ever since. Expansion and the War of the Moon and Rose Wars of conquest and Valtari aggression soon ravaged throughout the Western Kingdoms until 861 OB, where all but one of the kingdoms were now under the light of the Blood Moon: the ancient kingdom of Elduvia. Prior to the invasion of Elduvia, Lady Lucretia informed Emperor Volken of a new prophecy: though Cedric's reign will be long and prosperous, the empire will fall apart if it were to ever fall into the hands of his heir, his younger brother Vitaly Volken. Cedric had no children due to a natural infertility, and his wife had been killed by a group of rebels who infiltrated a feast at Castle Moondrake during an attempt on the Emperor's life. Vitaly was to be his only heir. Thus, in a bid of desperation, Volken began his invasion ahead of schedule, ravaging and razing Elduvian lands more aggressively than he had in the past until finally reaching Sullenwald with his host. The Emperor had no interest in a siege, and led a full frontal assault on the front gate, tearing through the city until he reached the Palace of Spires. He then challenged King Maren Harwall, a known vampire, to a one on one duel for control of the kingdom. Harwall agreed, but was slain by Volken, who then shocked all those who were watching by drinking the blood of the slain king, thus contracting vampirism himself. He was now immortal, and never had to pass the throne to Vitaly. In a gesture of good faith, he granted Sullenwald to Vitaly as well as the kingship of Elduvia, as the Harwall family refused to bend the knee to the Empire. Cedric showed mercy, and stripped them of their lands rather than executing them. Soon after (861 OB), the Kingdom of Pendrell declared war on the growing Valtari Empire, proclaiming them an unholy institution and a plague on the face of Raia. The War of the Moon and Rose, which lasted 6 years, eventually swung into Valtari favor, who stripped Pendrell of all lands west of the Tyrillan Expanse. The City-States War and the Three Dragons Conflict Beginning in 879 OB, the long dormant Valtari Empire began to mobilize once again, this time turning its conquest upon its new southern neighbors, the Merchant Cities. Olenno was the first city invaded, and due to new gnomic technology gained from increased trade with the Kingdom of Leonelle, the city was devastated, almost irreversibly razed by meteors of arcane fire being flung from gnome skyships. With Olenno unsalvageable, a frustrated Emperor Volken turned his eyes to its neighbor, Valance. Valance, however, had established complex ballista systems to deter any skyship activity, which prolonged the conflict. The Empire laid siege to the city for the better part of a year, before an inside man in Valance assassinated the ballista operators and opened a rear gate for a Valtari battalion. The battlion overran the city, and skyships took the skies. Valance took heavy damage and casualties, but the Emperor Volken left Ser Thales of Ryersdale as the city's imperial governor, as well as head of a restoration effort. Catarin was the last city left, and by far the largest. Catarin is the second largest city in the world, and a very important trading hub, so Volken sought to minimize damages to the city. Preparing for a siege, he marched on Catarin, but found that the gates were open upon arrival, with white flags flying about the Palace Val Royeaux. The Dutchess Adriana Val Dorceaux had surrendered the city to the empire without a fight, much to the dismay of her people and many of the local merchant guilds. The year 880 OB was a tough year for the Empire, as occupying Catarin proved a tall order. Ser Dresden Partridge was named the imperial governor. The smallfolk were extremely resistant to any form of taxation, and the occupying forces felt much resistance from three organized crime syndicates within the city proper: the Mules, the Paupers, and the Butchers. In 881 OB, the Friendly Lovers formed in Catarin and began their war against the Butchers gang. This began the series of events leading up to the Fall of Catarin, where the Empire was chased out of the city by a massive uprising of more than half of the smallfolk started by Butcher leader Razza out of desperation and embarrassment from his recent shortcomings in his fight against the Lovers.